Around the league: A lengthy celebration for Wade … Lakers on the block
An athlete has to do something pretty special for a team to hold a one-night ceremony to retire his or her jersey; it is the ultimate compliment a team can pay. Imagine, then, how special one has to be to get not only a one-night retirement ceremony, but a weekend-long celebration of a career?
That’s what the Miami Heat are doing for Dwyane Wade later this season. There will be an in-arena tribute to Wade for season ticket holders on Feb. 21, the actual raising of his jersey to the rafters will happen during a game on Feb. 22, and then there will be a third event Feb. 23 when a documentary film of his Heat career debuts in an arena showing. “As teams develop and evolve, there are many players who could be labelled the face of a franchise, then there are those that rise above that,” Heat resident Pat Riley said in a statement.
Block party: The Los Angeles Lakers blocked an NBA seasonhigh 20 shots in a victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, the most blocks by a team in a single game since 2001. The Pistons tried 52 two-point field goal attempts against the Lakers. They made 18, two fewer than they had blocked.
The 2001 game? That was the Raptors, who blocked 20 in a 109-92 win over the Golden State Warriors. Hakeem Olajuwon led the way with seven rejections while Antonio Davis, Keon Clark and Tracy Murray each blocked three.
Hotter than hot: DeMar DeRozan of the San Antonio Spurs — that still sounds weird — arrives for his lone Toronto visit of the season riding the crest of one of the best scoring stretches of his career.
He dropped 30 points on 10-for-17 shooting from the field on the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, the ninth straight game in which he has scored more than 20 points on better than 50 per cent shooting from the field.
A Canadian shines: Much of the attention goes to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray and Andrew Wiggins when talk gets around to the most effective Canadians in the NBA this season. But do not sleep on Dillon Brooks of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Over his past 16 games, the Mississauga-raised Grizzlies swingman is averaging 17.4 points per game on 43.6 per cent shooting, 40.8 per cent efficiency from three-point range and 89.1 per cent shooting from the free-throw line.
Information from other publications, wire services and websites was used in the compilation of this report.